Raymond James upgrades Diplomat Pharmacy, sees number of potential suitors. Raymond James analyst John Ransom upgraded Diplomat Pharmacy (DPLO) to Outperform from Market Perform with an $8 price target. The stock closed yesterday up 14c to $5.86. Following the 56% share decline since the February earnings delay, Diplomat would represent value to a strategic buyer, Ransom tells investor in a research note. The analyst sees a number of potential buyers that would "covet" Diplomat Pharmacy's infusion franchise and could fold its large mail order business into an existing platform, including UnitedHealth (UNH), Cigna (CI), CVS Health (CVS), Anthem (ANTM) and Centene (CNC). Ransom thinks Diplomat's current fundamentals should motivate its board to step up its assessment of strategic options. He believes the company's collection of assets are underappreciated at current valuation levels.

Curaleaf (CURLF) said that CVS (CVS) this week will start selling products with CBD at over 800 of its stores, Bloomberg's Craig Giammona reports. The pharmacy chain will begin selling products infused with the non-intoxicating hemp component as part of a partnership with Curaleaf, Giammona notes. Reference Link

The Board of Directors of Marriott International (MAR) said it has appointed Margaret McCarthy, Executive Vice President at CVS Health (CVS), as an independent director of the company, effective March 19. McCarthy will also be included in the company's slate of nominees for election at Marriott's upcoming 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. McCarthy's appointment expands the membership of the Board to 14, 11 of whom are independent. She will also serve on the company's Audit Committee.

Novartis CEO Vasant Narasimhan said in an interview with Fortune's Susie Gharib that it's time for the company to pivot "towards transformational innovation. " "In Switzerland there's a great pride in legacy," Narasimhan told Fortune, adding that he's had to learn to repeatedly acknowledge the major achievements at the company over 250 years. "Every time Novartis needed to pivot in that long history, it pivoted," he said. "And this is the a moment to pivot again. Pivot towards transformational innovation. Pivot the culture. Pivot towards data and digital technologies. And we need to do it fast because the world is moving really fast." Reference Link

Catch up on today's top five analyst initiations with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Lyft (LYFT) initiated with a Buy at DA Davidson. 2. KalVista (KALV) initiated with a Buy at Needham. 3. Peabody Energy (BTU) initiated with an Outperform at Credit Suisse. 4. Fox (FOXA) initiated with a Buy at BofA/Merrill. 5. National General (NGHC) initiated with a Buy at Compass Point. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.